Former Kohl’s CEO Ashley Buchanan pressed to get Incredibrew, a coffee product produced by a company led by his girlfriend, into Kohl’s stores within months of his hiring, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal.
Buchanan was fired for cause April 30 after an investigation by Kohl’s determined he had not reported a conflict of interest with a vendor with whom he had a personal relationship. The Wall Street Journal has identified Chandra Holt as Buchanan’s romantic partner, CEO of the company that produces Incredibrew, a supplement infused coffee product.
The Wall Street Journal May 21 published a detailed story about the business and personal relationship between Buchanan and Holt. Here are some new details the story included:
Buchanan, Holt celebrated Holt’s birthday the day after his firing
The story opens at the Vaquero Club in a wealthy suburb of Dallas. Buchanan and Holt were spotted at the clubhouse for dinner and had cocktails at the bar to celebrate her 45th birthday the day after he was fired from Kohl’s.
According to the article “the pair showed no signs of having been engulfed in a corporate scandal.”
The relationship started when they worked at Walmart
Buchanan and Holt met when they were working for Walmart in Bentonville, Ark in 2015. At the time Buchanan was running Walmart’s dry grocery business and Holt was hired as a vice president with Sam’s Club after working at Target for a decade and then at Walgreens.
Both were married to other people and had children.
In 2017, Buchanan became Holt’s boss when he became chief merchant for Sam’s Club and a few months after that she was promoted. Soon after talk about their close relationship started percolating with other Walmart workers, the Journal reported.
Michael Bender, current interim-CEO of Kohl’s, was also working at Walmart at the time but was unaware of the relationship.
Buchanan’s wife had ‘serious illness’
According to the story, Buchanan’s wife had a “serious illness” which caused him to go out to events without her. According to executives, Buchanan worried about the toll the illness took on their children.
Buchanan and Holt would spend time together with their children but without each other’s spouses.
Buchanan continued to rise up the ranks inside Walmart but in 2019 he left to become CEO of Michaels, based in Dallas.
Holt’s marriage ended with a 2024 divorce
In early 2020 Holt was approached for a job at Michaels, reporting to the CEO but stayed with Walmart.
She was separated from her husband in March 2020 and filed for divorce in October that year. According to the Journal report, the couple called off their divorce twice before the relationship ended in 2024.
In 2021, Holt left Walmart to become CEO of Conn’s HomePlus based in Houston.
Hiring, recommending employees from each other’s companies
Holt and Buchanan moved to Texas and kept their relationship a secret but recommended each other’s companies to potential hires. the Journal report says.
Holt hired an executive that had worked at Michaels when Buchanan was CEO.
According to the report, top executives at Michaels did not know Buchanan and Holt were together until more Walmart employees joined the company and brought the gossip with them.
Buchanan took Michael’s private, sued by ex-wife for his stake in deal
In 2021, Buchanan made a $3.3 billion deal with Apollo Global Management to take Michaels private.
For his part of the deal, Buchanan could receive $32 million but was sued by his ex-wife for not disclosing the transaction. Buchanan disputed the claim in court and they settled, however the details of the settlement are not known, the Journal said.
Holt launched Incredibrew coffee startup in 2024
After leaving Conns in 2022, Holt founded Incredibrew, a K-cup coffee pod company that infuses the coffee with supplements like collagen and melatonin.
In 2024, Holt had a brief stint as CEO of Bed Bath and Beyond and then focused on her coffee startup.
Eventually Michaels started carrying Incredibrew near the candy at the cash registers. Some employees wondered why the company was selling coffee when it didn’t have a grocery section, the Journal said.
Holt touted the benefits of collagen in coffee in videos on her LinkedIn profile which Buchanan reposted.
Holt was also an advisor to Boston Consulting Group.
Board alerted after Buchanan tried to bring Incredibrew to Kohl’s
Buchanan tried to bring Incredibrew products to Kohl’s within months of starting as CEO and as part of the vetting process for a new vendor a Kohl’s employee raised concerns about having the product available in stores.
The board was notified and an outside law firm was hired to conduct an investigation which found that Kohl’s had entered into a multimillion-consulting agreement with Boston Consulting Group.
As a result of the non-disclosure, Boston Consulting Group fired Holt from her advisor position.
During the investigation a lawyer called Buchanan and asked if he was dating Holt. Buchanan said yes.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Fired Kohl’s CEO Buchanan moved quickly to add girlfriend’s coffee Incredibrew to stores
Reporting by Ricardo Torres, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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